DESCRIPTION

XML::SAX is a SAX parser access API for Perl. It includes classes and APIs required for implementing SAX drivers, along with a factory class for returning any SAX parser installed on the user's system.

USING A SAX2 PARSER

The factory class is XML::SAX::ParserFactory. Please see the documentation of that module for how to instantiate a SAX parser: XML::SAX::ParserFactory. However if you don't want to load up another manual page, here's a short synopsis:

WRITING A SAX2 PARSER

The first thing to remember in writing a SAX2 parser is to subclass XML::SAX::Base. This will make your life infinitely easier, by providing a number of methods automagically for you. See XML::SAX::Base for more details.

When writing a SAX2 parser that is compatible with XML::SAX, you need to inform XML::SAX of the presence of that driver when you install it. In order to do that, XML::SAX contains methods for saving the fact that the parser exists on your system to a "INI" file, which is then loaded to determine which parsers are installed.

The best way to do this is to follow these rules:

Add XML::SAX as a prerequisite in Makefile.PL:

WriteMakefile(
...
PREREQ_PM => { 'XML::SAX' => 0 },
...
);

Alternatively you may wish to check for it in other ways that will cause more than just a warning.

Note that you should check the output of this - \$(NAME) will use the name of your distribution, which may not be exactly what you want. For example XML::LibXML has a driver called XML::LibXML::SAX::Generator, which is used in place of \$(NAME) in the above.

Add an XML::SAX test:

A test file should be added to your t/ directory containing something like the following:

EXPORTS

By default, XML::SAX exports nothing into the caller's namespace. However you can request the symbols Namespaces and Validation which are the URIs for those features, allowing an easier way to request those features via ParserFactory: